ASSESSING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF E-GOVERNMENT IN GHANA’S PUBLIC SECTOR

ABSTRACT

E-government is becoming a fundamental reform tool for enhancing public administration especially in developing countries like Ghana where public organisations face resource constraints in their delivery of public services. Although studies have given considerable attention to how E-government helps improve public administration, there still exist few studies which aim at comparing the perspectives of both public servants and end-users. Studies are also limited on the long term sustainability of E-government initiatives and the degree to which public servants and users are both adopting and buying-into E-government initiatives. With the aid of Actor-Network Theory and the concept of New Public Management, this research engages both end-users and public servants and their understanding of E-government as well as their level of awareness. The study also investigates the factors which influence public servants’ and citizen end-users’ use and adoption or otherwise of E-government applications. Further, the study identifies the benefits and challenges associated with the implementation of E-government as well as measures to adopt to ensure the long-term sustainability of E-government projects in the Ghanaian public sector. This study uses the mixed-method research design in analysing and discussing the primary and secondary data which were qualitatively and quantitatively obtained. The method of data collection and analysis allowed the researcher to triangulate and cross verify various responses obtained in the field. The study is also aligned to a case study research strategy which makes use of two Ghanaian public organisations. It was discovered that Government of Ghana is committed with its attempt to digitalize the public sector. And this comes on the back of various initial preparations made prior to the implementation of E-government. There was however some pitfalls in these initial preparation measures and some of these could be mentioned as the non-involvement of

public servants in major decision making as well as inadequate training of bureaucrats. The study also found high rates of awareness and adoption (or acceptance) of E-government projects by both public servants and end-users. The rates of awareness and adoption were however, tilted in the favour of public servants than users. And this was because of the depth of institution knowledge and experiences of bureaucrats in relation to end-users. Further, both public servants and users agreed that E-government offer enormous benefits to the public sector and these factors could as well lead to the transformation of the sector. Some benefits of E-government include increased efficiency of public institutions in the delivery of public services. Other benefit relates to low transaction and administrative costs, reduction in corrupt activities and improved relation of public agencies with the general public. In spite of these benefits, the study also discovered some challenges which debilitate the functioning of various E-government projects in the public sector. Some of these challenges were erratic power supply, high cost involved in running and maintaining these projects and the lack of ICT infrastructure. Some measures were also put forward to ensure the sustainability of these E-government solutions in the sector. For example the involvement of private sectors as well as commitment of political leadership were generally cited. Keywords: E-government; Ghanaian Public Sector, Public Sector Reform, New Public Management